


Something Rare and Precious

by lilithiumwords



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, Holidays, Introspection, M/M, Snow, yoi advent calendar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-25 23:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17130680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilithiumwords/pseuds/lilithiumwords
Summary: They said it would start snowing, but Yuuri is still waiting.





	Something Rare and Precious

**Author's Note:**

> For the YOI Advent Calendar, day 25: _a soft kind of love is born_

Outside, the lights of St. Petersburg twinkle invitingly, casting a soft sheen on the low clouds above the city. Yuuri sips on his hot chocolate slowly, absently tucking his knees closer to his chest. He thinks of dialing up the heated blanket wrapped around him and Makkachin, but the remote is on the other side of the couch, and he doesn't feel like moving.

He misses his parents' _kotatsu._ He hasn't gotten to sit under one for five years, since he could never afford one in Detroit. He knows if he mentioned it to Viktor that a new one would appear within a week, so he keeps his mouth shut. His inaction means he isn't as cozy as he could be -- but that doesn't matter to Yuuri. He has Makkachin and his hot chocolate, even if it's starting to cool off.

Humming catches his attention, and Yuuri looks over his shoulder toward the kitchen. Viktor is swaying a little as he stands at the stove overseeing their dinner, and Yuuri smiles a little, watching him. He thinks Viktor is humming _Eros_ again. 

Viktor's birthday is in two days. Yuuri has his present already wrapped and hidden away, along with the ingredients for the Christmas cake he plans on baking. Viktor likely has some idea, since there is little in the apartment that misses his keen eye. The next few days will be a break from skating, since their Nationals are over and the next competition isn't until January. Yuuri looks forward to doing nothing but drinking hot cocoa and watching Netflix all day.

Viktor leans over the pot, frowning down at its contents, and Yuuri hides his smile behind his mug, then turns his attention back to the window. He overheard someone in the grocery store say it might snow tonight. St. Petersburg has already been blanketed with snow, but not since Yuuri came here with Viktor after the GPF.

Detroit had snow, sometimes. Hasetsu almost never had snow, even in the middle of winter. Snow has always been important to Yuuri, something rare and precious. Yet when he thinks of snow, it isn't the first snowfall he experienced as a child, laughing and jumping and throwing snowballs with Yuuko and Takeshi. Instead he thinks of the snow that brought Viktor to Hasetsu, sudden and unexpected and mysterious.

Mysterious, unexpected, sudden. Yuuri glances at his hand, watching the faint glint on his finger, before absently rubbing his thumb over the gold. His own feelings are a mystery. The ring was unexpected, to be certain. The thought of marriage? Too sudden, too daunting, too terrifying.

Yet Viktor wants to marry him. They're living together now in St. Petersburg -- and Viktor wants to marry him. _Him_ , Katsuki Yuuri, dime-a-dozen skater. Yuuri never even imagined it. He just wanted Viktor to understand how important he was to Yuuri. Maybe his heart knows better than Yuuri himself, because... the ring was just as sudden and unexpected to Yuuri as it was to Viktor. As much as Viktor's arrival in Hasetsu was, months ago.

Yet Yuuri would never go back. He can only look forward, so that he can continue to be with his precious person. The ring can stay on his finger forever if it means staying with Viktor for just as long. Maybe someday he can convey the feelings that the ring stands for. Maybe in his wedding vows, or years after, when he and Viktor are settled down and Yuuri can trust his own heart.

Maybe he doesn't need to say it at all. Viktor seems to understand his feelings anyway.

The humming behind him stops.

"Yuuri," calls Viktor, and Yuuri looks back curiously. Viktor turns away from the stove with a smile, reaching up to untie his apron and laying it over the back of a chair. "Dinner will be ready in about forty minutes. Do you want to do anything?"

 _I can think of a few things,_ Yuuri doesn't say, his cheeks heating up a little. "I'm fine," he says aloud, which makes Viktor raise his eyebrow, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips before the expression smoothes out. Yuuri watches as Viktor crosses the room and comes to sit on the couch beside him, and he lifts the heated blanket obligingly. Viktor settles in beside him with a sigh. He smells of food and spice, and Yuuri leans into his side to breathe in more.

"We could watch more of that show you were watching," Viktor offers, nodding at the television screen, which paused ages after Yuuri finished an episode and didn't bother to tell Netflix he was still watching. Yuuri shrugs a little, resting his head on Viktor's shoulder and sipping his hot chocolate slowly.

"I'm fine," Yuuri repeats quietly. "I was waiting to see if it would snow." Viktor follows his gaze to the window, then smiles.

"It could. Perhaps if it does, we could go for a walk after dinner."

"Too cold," Yuuri protests immediately. "Don't make me go out there, Viktor."

Viktor chuckles and reaches up to squeeze Yuuri's knee, winking at him. "Then let's say it will." Yuuri raises an eyebrow at him, and Viktor winks. "We're due at least fourteen inches tomorrow. Hence why I have cancelled practice and loaded our fridge with all the necessities."

"Three cartons of eggs are not necessities," Yuuri says mildly, enjoying the way Viktor huffs. He sips his hot chocolate until the rich drink is gone, then passes the mug to Viktor to set on the table. His gaze eventually returns to the window, his chest tightening a little to see a few specks of _something_ glinting outside.

"Is it snowing?" Yuuri asks, sitting up a little.

Viktor lets out a soft noise. "It might be. Why don't you go check?"

"And leave my blanket? It's cold," Yuuri whines, yet he leans forward despite himself, trying to look closer. He feels more than hears Viktor's laughter.

"My silly Yuuri," Viktor murmurs, pressing a warm kiss to Yuuri's forehead, then climbing out of their little nest of warmth. Yuuri watches him as he walks to the window, putting one hand against the glass. When he looks past Viktor at the darkness outside, he sees more white flakes, fat ones fluttering past in the wind.

Viktor glances over his shoulder, his blue eyes nearly glowing, and Yuuri's heart skips a beat at the look on his face. Carefully, he abandons the heated blanket and leaves it with Makkachin, then crosses the room to stand beside Viktor, his socks slipping a bit against the bare floor. 

For a while, they watch the snow together. Yuuri finds himself twisting his ring, a small movement that makes him realize just how often he touches it. It means so much to him, this little promise, something rare and precious. He wonders if the snow outside feels the same as it did in April, when Viktor appeared in his life and changed him. 

Yuuri loses himself in his thoughts for a while. Eventually the chill seeps into him, and he finds himself missing his blanket, but he can't bring himself to leave Viktor's side just for a bit of warmth. He settles for rubbing his arms, tugging the sleeves of his sweater over his hands. Then Viktor wraps an arm around him, and Yuuri no longer feels so cold.

He wonders if Viktor thinks about that strange day in April when he appeared in Japan. He wonders if he could have done anything differently and still gained Viktor's trust and love. If only he had remembered the banquet... and yet he doesn't regret it, their slow romance. Knowing what he knows now doesn't change how he feels.

Sudden, unexpected, mysterious. Perhaps a little of all three, and yet perhaps none of them really apply. Just like the snow, his love continues to build, a promise of a different tomorrow.


End file.
